India's official COVID deaths likely an undercount скачать в хорошем качестве

India's official COVID deaths likely an undercount

(17 Sep 2020) When Narayan Mitra died on July 16, a day after being admitted to the hospital for fever and breathing difficulties, his name never appeared on any of the official lists put out daily of those killed by the coronavirus. Test results later revealed that Mitra had indeed been infected with COVID-19, as had his son, Abhijit, and four other family members in Silchar, in northeastern Assam state, on India's border with Bangladesh. But Narayan Mitra still isn't counted as a coronavirus victim. The virus was deemed an "incidental" factor, and a panel of doctors decided his death was due to a previously diagnosed neurological disorder that causes muscle weakness. "I feel that they are hiding death records. Otherwise, why would they take my father so far away for cremation? They (government) are saying that my father died because of myasthenia (neurological disorder that causes muscle weakness), but they have cremated him according to COVID (19) protocol," Abhijit Mitra said of the finding, which came despite national guidelines that ask states to not attribute deaths to underlying conditions in cases where COVID-19 has been confirmed by tests. Such exclusions could explain why India, which has recorded over 5 million infections — second only to the United States — has a death toll of about 82,000 in a country of 1.3 billion people. India's Health Ministry has cited this as evidence of its success in fighting the pandemic and a basis for relaxing restrictions and reopening the economy after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a strict lockdown of the entire population earlier this year. Determining exact numbers during the pandemic is difficult: Countries count cases and deaths differently, and testing for the virus is uneven, making direct comparisons misleading. In India, recording mortality data was poor even before the pandemic struck. Of the 10 million estimated deaths each year, fewer than a quarter are fully documented, and only one-fifth of these are medically certified, according to national figures. Most Indians die at home, not in a hospital, and doctors usually aren't present to record the cause of death. This is more prevalent in rural areas, where the virus is now spreading. The Health Ministry asks states to record all suspected virus deaths, including "presumptive deaths" -- those who likely died of COVID-19 but weren't tested for it. But these guidelines are advisory, and many states don't comply. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...